New Varsity Football Head Coach Named at GCDS

Greenwich Country Day School is excited to announced on Wednesday that Kevin Avery has been appointed as Head Coach for the school’s Varsity Football program.

Coach Avery comes to GCDS from Greenwich High School.

Coach Kevin Avery. Contributed photo

At GHS Coach Avery serves as offensive coordinator and quarterback coach. Since joining the Cardinals in 2016, Coach Avery has played an integral role in helping to lead one of the most successful and highly respected football programs in Connecticut.

During Coach Avery’s tenure as a member of the GHS varsity football coaching staff, the team has won two FCIAC Championships, was a state finalist in 2017, and won the State Championship in 2018.

“There is tremendous excitement with the hiring of Kevin Avery as the Varsity Head Football Coach at GCDS,” said Greenwich Country Day School Athletic Director Tim Helstein in a release. “His robust coaching experience, along with his future goals for the team, made him the perfect fit to take the helm of the program. Kevin embodies what we look for in all our coaches at GCDS. He displays knowledge and passion for the sport, but also stresses the importance of character and service to each other and the greater community. He comes from a program with a proven track record of hard work, determination, and success, and I look forward to watching all that he can, and will, accomplish at GCDS.”

File Photo: Pat Mediate, Tysen Comizio, John Marinelli and coach Kevin Avery at GHS. April 25, 2018 Photo: Leslie Yager

“It’s clear that Greenwich Country Day School is very committed to building a Varsity program that is not only going to be incredibly competitive but also is going to be a first-class organization through and through,” Avery said. “We want to provide a collegiate-type experience that prepares our student-athletes to be the best versions of themselves academically, athletically, socially, and emotionally. We want our student-athletes to leave GCDS with the tools to be successful in their collegiate and professional lives and to be people of high character, integrity, and work ethic.”

Reflecting on the important connection between the football team and the broader school community, Avery continued, “It is my strong vision to make sure that our players are serving our GCDS school community not just on the football field, but are also representing themselves in a championship way every single day in the classroom, in the school community, and in other facets as well, whether it be other sports or extracurriculars. I think community service is incredibly important. We want to pride ourselves on being phenomenal leaders, and we define leadership as service.”

The Varsity program will build on the work Coach James Gussis has accomplished and will continue to strengthen the vertical integration between Middle School and Upper School to benefit player development. Expressing his appreciation, Helstein said, “I want to thank Coach James Gussis for the work and passion he put in throughout the last two years as Interim Head Coach. I still remember the day that James agreed (after several asks from me) to take on the role and get the program off the ground. The staff he put together, along with his talented offensive mind, allowed every member of the program to find success as an individual and a teammate. I am thrilled that he will not be too far away as he moves back into his original love of working with the Middle School program.”

“There is a lot of enthusiasm and talent on the roster, and these players have been a pleasure to coach,” noted Gussis. “Having seen firsthand the work Kevin has done at Greenwich High School and the positive impact he had coaching my son, I know GCDS has hired a great coach. I am excited for what the future holds.”

Avery brings to GCDS a respect for the value of traditions and the long-term positive impact that coaches can have on the lives of student-athletes. Reflecting on his prior coaching experience, he said, “I’m so blessed to have been in a program that takes such great pride in its traditions. The amount of incredibly impactful people that I’ve been able to meet and develop relationships with as a coach through GHS means way more to me than any victory that we could have had—and we were blessed to have a good amount of them. I’m so grateful for John Marinelli bringing me on the staff back in ’16 and mentoring me and so grateful for Anthony Morello in trusting me to help him continue to build the great program at GHS.”

Coach Avery attended White Plains High School, where he was a three-sport varsity athlete in football, basketball, and track. He attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, where he played wide receiver and earned All-Liberty League Academic Honors as well as the National Football Foundation’s Hampshire Scholar Athlete Award. In 2009, Avery graduated cum laude and began a teaching career through Teach for America.

Prior to Greenwich High School, Avery served two separate stints as an assistant Varsity Coach at White Plains High School with a two-year stay at the Harvey School in Katonah, NY, in between. Both at White Plains and Harvey, Avery mentored the QB’s, WR’s, and DB’s, while also serving as a Strength and Conditioning Coach. He currently works as a middle school mathematics teacher in the Greenwich Public School District.